Valve for water-closets.



N0.-679,368. Patented July 30, 190i. J. BENTON.

VALVE FOR WATER CLOSETS.

(Application filed Feb. 9, 1901.)

(No Model.) 3 SheetsSheet m: uonm's PETERS 00.. Pumaq'ma. wnsnmurou. o.c.

No. 679,368. Patented luly so, l90l.

' J. BENTON.

VALVE FOR WATER CLOSETS. Application filed Fab. 9. 1901 (No Model.) 3Sheets-Sheet 2 N Q N N WITNESSES: INVENTUR ATTORNEYS.

ma NORRIS PETERS co., PHOTULITHOY. WASHINGTON, n. c.

N0. 679,363. Patented July 30, IQUI.

' J. DENTDN.

VALVE FOR WATER GLOSETS.

(Application filed Fab. 9, 1901.;

3 Shqets Sh eet 3.

R O T N E V N ATTORNEYS.

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN DENTON, OF PATERSON, NEWV JERSEY.

.VALVE FOR WATER-CLOSETS.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No. 679,368, dated July 30,1901. Application filed February 9, 1901. Serial No. 46,621. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN DENTON, a citizen of the United States,residing in Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Valves forWater-Closets; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it ap'pertains to make and use thesame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to lettersand figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification.

This invention relates to flushing apparatus for water-closets and ithas reference particularly to the class of such apparatus in whichthewater-supply, which is turned on manually, is cutoff automatically afterapredetermined amount of water has been permitted to flow.

My invention is fully illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein-Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of one form of my apparatus, partsthereof being shown in elevation. Fig. 2 is a transverse verticalsectional view on'the line x at in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a verticalsectional view of another form of the apparatus, certain modificationsbeing here illustrated. Fig. 4 is a View in end elevation of theapparatus shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view on theline 'y y in Fig. 3. Figs. 6 and 7 are views, respectively, of a detailinvolved in the two forms of the apparatus already referred to and ofanother detail involved in the apparatus shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 8illustrates a modification of a certain valve construction involved inthe two forms of my invention already referred to; and Fig. 9 is a View,partly in elevation and partly in verticalsection,of another form of theapparatus.

In the accompanying drawings,a designates a shell or casing comprisingin its construc tion a substantially L-shaped chamber 1), which isformed open at the top, the opening being normally closed by adetachable wall or plate 0, forming a cover.

d designates the inlet or water-supply pipe, and e designates thedischarge or flushing pipe. These pipes have communication with eachother through a passage-way, which in the apparatus shown in Fig. 1 isin the form of a pipe h, whereas in the apparatus shown in Figs. 3, 8,and 9 said passage-way is in the form of a chamber g. Whatever the formof this passage-way, it preferably constitutes an integral portion ofthe shell orcasinga, and with the chamber 1) of this casing, andpreferably at the lower end thereof, it has communication, as through aport h, which is in Figs. 1, 3, and 8 of tubular form, having its innerend portion arranged vertically in the chamber.

2' designates a valve which controls the flow through pipe d and whichis adapted to take against a suitable seat j. This valve is carried atthe lowerend of avalve-stem 7a, which projects upwardly through thepassage-way and into the upper portion of the chamber b. In thatembodiment of my invention which is shown in Fig. 1 said valve-stemextends through one of two tubular parts Z, which connect the upper oroverhanging portion of the shell with that portion of the apparatuswhich constitutes the passage-way. In that embodiment of my inventionwhich is shown in Figs. 3, 8, and 9 said valve-stem extends through thepassage-way g, into which the pipes (Z and e lead. The upper end of thevalve-stem is provided with a header, having an opening 0, into whichprojects one end of a lever 19, which is fulcrumed on a standard q inthe upper portion of the chamber 5, the other end of said lever beingbeveled, as at r, and normally pressed downwardly by a weight 8.

i designates a lock-bar which is alined with the lever 19 when thelatter is in its normal position and which is arranged to slidehorizontally in a suitable supporttt in the chamber and in a recess 0,which is formed in the end wall of the casing and into which the outerend of said lock-bar extends. The innor end of the lockbar is beveledcorrespond ingly to the bevel of the lever 19, so that when the beveledend of the latter is elevated the two bevels will wipe freely the one onthe other, with the result that the lock-bar will move longitudinally.If desired, a roller 10 may be carried either by the lover or thelock-bar to facilitate this action.

at designates a vertically-movable spindle which carries a float y,arranged to move freely in the vertical portion of the chamber b. Thefloat is preferably secured ad justabl y on the spindle by means of aset-screw z. The lower wall of the vertical portion of the chamber 1) isin the form of a plug 1, which is screwed into the casing. In this wallthe lower end of the spindle is guided either by being fitted into avertical recess 2 (said lower end of the spindle and the recess beingpreferably squared to prevent the spindle from turning) or by providingthe plug with a vertical stem 3, which is adapted to extend into thespindle, which latter is in this case made cylindrical, being providedwith a vent 4, so that should the hollow spindle become filled withwater the action of said spindle will not be clogged. The upper end ofthe spindle carries a head 5, whose upper extremity is guided in avertical bore 6, that is formed in the cover c. According to theconstructions shown in Figs. 1 and 9 this head is provided with averticallyoblique cam portion 7, which extends betweenantifriction-rollers 8, that are vious manner upon the longitudinal movement of the lock-bar) will descend, causing the lock-bar to project itsbeveled end under the beveled or weighted end of the lever, thus lockingthe latter in the elevated position. If desired, the action of the floatand spindle in normally tending to force the lock-bar inwardly-2'. 6.,toward the leve"r1nay be augmented by a spiral spring 11", interposedbetween the outer end of said lock-bar and a portion of the wall of thecasing a, which,

with the object of facilitating the assembling of the parts, may be inthe form of'a cap 12, screwed in place over the end of the recess 0).

here the spindle is of cylindrical form, it is preferably screwed intothe head 5, and to facilitate the assembling and separation of i theparts the lower end of the spindle maybe provided with a cross-cut 13for the reception of the end of a screw-driver.

The valve-stem 7c is adapted to be actuated by a vertically-movablespindle 14, which is guidedin the cover and whose lower end is set intoa recess 15, formed in the upper end of the valve-stem, while its upperend is pro vided eitherwith a head 16, adapted to receive a weightedactuating-lever 17 which is fulcrume'd upon the cover a, or with a knob18. In order tomormally raise the spindle where the same is to beactuated by the knob, I provide a spiral spring 19, which is interposedbetween a collar 20 on the spindle and the cover and which, if desired,may be in closed in a tubular projection 21 of the cover, suchprojection having a cap 22, through which the spindle extends.

Since the general operation of the several forms of the apparatus whichare set forth herein is substantially the same in all of them, it isappropriate to explain it at this point. Upon the depression of thevalve 2' through the medium of its valve-stem and the spindle 14, andthe consequent opening of the watersupply or inlet d, the water willrush into the apparatus through the passage-way and out the discharge 6.Said discharge should preferably be smaller in diameter than the inlet,so that a portion of the water will be caused to flow into the verticalportion of the chamberb. However, where there is considerable pressurethis is not essential. (See Fig. 9.) As has been already described, uponthe opening of the valve and the simultaneous action of the lever 19 thelatter is locked in its inclined position, holding the valve open by thelock bart. The parts will remain in this position, therefore, until thefloat and spindle rise, causing the lock-bar to retract and release thelever. This action of the float and spindle results upon the flow of thewater which cannot pass out of the discharge 6 and which tends to fillthe chamber 1). Upon the withdrawal of the lock-bar by the action of therising float and spindle the lever is released and by the action of itsweight returned to the initial position, closing the valve. tVhen thevalve closes, the water in the chamb'erp flows back out of the-same,draining either out of the discharge-pipe, according to the constructionillustrated in Figs. 3, 3, and 9, or out of a special drain-pipe 23,according to the construction shown in Fig. 1.

If desired, the drain may be controlled by a special valve construction.I have shown several forms of this expedient in the drawings. As shownin Fig. 1 it consists of a rubber, leather, or other flexible disk 24,having acentral opening in'which works a cylindrical valve 25, which isclosed at both ends and has one or more vertical slots 26. The disk issecured in place between two metal disks 27, having openings of largerdiameter than the opening in the disk 24, the three disks being in turninterposed between the ends of the pipe 23 and the nipple 27, projectingfrom the body of the apparatus, and to which said pipe is secured by acoupling 28. The valve 25 has sufficient. vertical play so that whenelevated the slots will be uncovered by the flexible washer, thusclosing communication from the apparatus to the pipe. As shown in Fig.3, where the discharge-pipe is used also as a drain,-a valve 29 of thesame construction as the valve 25 works in a flexible disk 30 like theflexible disk 24, which is secured to a nipple 31, projecting from thebody of the apparatus, by a bushing 32. As shown in Fig. 8, the duct h,leading from the passage-way, is interrupted by a duct 33,

IIO

which affords communication between the discharge-pipe e and the chamberg. Communication between the two portions of the pipe thus separated bythe duct is, however,

' made possible by means of a longitudinallymovable tube 34, whichtraverses the duct, its ends extending into the adjacent ends of saidportions of the pipe. A packing-ring 35 is secured at each of said pipeends and around the tube by a cap 36, secured to said pipe ends. Thetube has a side duct 3'7,which may be closed or opened, according as thetube extends more or less into the portion of the pipe which leads tothe chamber Z).

The several valves just described are adapted to be actuated by avertically-movable spindle 38, which extends up into the upper portionof the chamber 6 and has a head 39, to which one end of a lever 40 ispivotally connected, said lever being fulcrumed in said chamber 5 andhaving its other end eXtending into another opening 41 in the head ofthe valve-stem 7r. \Vhere the valve is of the form like the valves 25and 29, the spindle 38 may be integral therewith. Where the valve is ofthe construction shown in Fig. 8, the lower end of the spindle isbifurcated, as at 42, being provided with oblique slots 43, receivingpins 44 on the tube.

In view of the foregoing it will be understood that when the valve t' isactuated to permit the inflow of water for the flushing the spindle 38will be elevated through the medium of the lever 40 and the valve whichcontrols the drain from the chamber 1) closed. The water can thus flowin but two directions-namely, into the chamber 1) and out of thedischarge-pipe. Upon the automatic release of the lever-p and return ofthe valved to its seat the valve controlled by the spindle 38 will open,permitting the drain of the chamber Referring to Fig. 5, it will be seenthat in the apparatus shown in Fig. 3 the flow of the water to thedischarge-pipe is around the duct h, which spans the opening to saiddischarge-pipe. If desired, a regulating-valve 45 may be provided tocontrol the amount of flow of water through the duct h.

In order to obviate leakage of the water from the chamber 6 should anyof the parts get out of order and the pressure in the chamber I) becomeabnormal, I provide the spindles 14 and a: each with a seal 46, which isadapted to be held against the cover by a collar 47 on said spindles. Ifit should also be desired to permit an escape of air which mayaccumulate in the chamber, a perforated cap 48 may be screwed upon anipple 49 over the bore 6.

By arranging the float y adjustably on its spindle the same function asthat of the regulating-valve 45 is subservednamely, of rendering theaction of the parts controllable, so that the flushing may be stoppedafter a period of any desired duration. 4

The apparatus shown in Figs. 3, 8, and 9 are useful, especially wherethe bowl is disposed below the apparatus and the flow is consequentlydown. WVhere the bowl is above the apparatus, and the passage-way cannottherefore drain out of the discharge-pipe, the apparatus illustrated inFig. 1 is employed, the valve construction serving to close the drainwhile the apparatus is flushing.

A chamber 50, (see Fig. 1,) between the lower portion of the chamber 1)and the ad jacent tubular part Z, may be used auxiliarly to the chamberb should the latter not be found large enough, communication between thetwo being afforded by a duct 51.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a flushing apparatus, the combination of a water-supply, awater-discharge having communication with said water-supply, amanually-opened water-supply-controlling means, a suitabIy-fulcrumedlever connected to said water-supply-controlling means and normallypressed in one direction, a rectilineally-movable lock-bar, saidlock-bar and the lever having correspondingly-inclined surfaces adaptedto wipe the one on the other and said lock-bar being movable into thepath of movement of said lever, a chamber also having communication withsaid watersupply, a float arranged in said chamber, and a spindlecarried by said float and having an oblique or cam portion engaging saidlockbar, substantially as described.

2. In a flushing apparatus, the combination of a Water-supply, awater-discharge having communication with said water-supply, awater-supply-controlling means, a locking mechanism for said controllingmeans adapted to maintain the same at the open position, a floatstructure controlling said locking mechanism, a chamber for said floatstructure, said chamber having communication with the water-supply, adrain for said cham ber, a valve controlling said drain, a spindleconnected to said valve, and a suitably-fulcrumed lever connecting saidspindle and said water-supply-controlling means, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this28th day of January, 1901.

JOHN BENTON.

Witnesses:

JOHN W. STEWgRD, ROBERT J. POLLITT.

